SOC 130ST
NIELSEN E S
Erik Nielsen
3.8
38 reviews
YU G H
Guo Yu
2.8
29 reviews

67
3.3
SOC130ST . Nielsen E S 1 Year, 1 Month Ago

I've taken 3 courses with Nielsen, and he's great. His lectures are sometimes boring, but if you're looking for an easy class, take him! His classes are formatted the same, with 2-3 short essays, and 3 multiple choice, open-note at home exams. Exam answers are all in the notes, and he gives you a study guide. No other assignments other than that!

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SOC130ST . Nielsen E S 1 Year, 7 Months Ago

The class was interesting and the lectures were engaging but the work load was very dense. One of the most work heavy course in SOC we had three exams, three papers, and weekly forum posts. There is no breaks with this class there is always a lot of work coming up.

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SOC130ST . Nielsen E S 1 Year, 8 Months Ago

Professor Nielsen did a great job teaching this course. It was dense, with a lot of information, but he presented it well on lecture slides and readings. Tests were online and there were a few papers, but they were manageable. The only downside was attendance and the weekly discussion posts.

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SOC147 . Nielsen E S 5 Months Ago

Said attendance was mandatory but wouldn't always take it. When he did he'd rush through it and most students would have to go after class to write name down. Don't have many assignments but the only big one he doesn't really explain and it's a group one but you have little to no contact with your group?? Def wouldnt take this class again

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SOC147 . Nielsen E S 6 Months Ago

I couldn't recommend Prof. Nielsen enough. He is great at giving engaging lectures and is just a kind human in general. We are graded by 2 papers, weekly personality tests, and 3 open note online exams. Great class with a great teacher.

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PSTAT131 . Yu G H 6 Months Ago

Definitely avoid if you can. Unfair exams, more focused on confusing and tricking students than assessing their knowledge of the material

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PSTAT232 . Yu G H 7 Months Ago

This class was a mess. The professor just read off the slides, never explained anything clearly, and didn't seem to care if we understood. Grading felt random, and office hours were useless. I came in hoping to learn stats, but mostly left confused and frustrated. Wouldn't recommend at all.

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PSTAT131 . Yu G H 7 Months Ago

Terrible professor. Lectures are disorganized and confusing, and he rarely answers questions clearly. He reads straight from the slides without explaining concepts. Grading is inconsistent, and there's no feedback on assignments. Office hours feel rushed and unhelpful. I learned more from YouTube than from class.

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PSTAT131 . Yu G H 8 Months Ago

Don't know what's up with the negative reviews. I agree that lectures were focused on theoretical concepts it's math course so what do you expect? He knows the material inside out, with well-structured homeworks that actually help you understand the content. Final exam was fair, it's just that without a midterm we didn't know what was expected.

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PSTAT131 . Yu G H 8 Months Ago

Lectures were pretty useless, though he does know his stuff. Final exam was poorly written, class average of 50% (though he did curve the final grades). Provided 4 bullet points for instructions on the final project.

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PSTAT131 . Yu G H 8 Months Ago

Guo seems friendly and approachable at first, as well as knowledgeable in machine learning concepts, but his teaching style doesn't convey that much. Sections seemed practically useless, lectures focused too heavily on theory with little to no explanations, and course expectations, like for the final project, were outlined weakly and much too late.

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PSTAT131 . Yu G H 8 Months Ago

do not take.

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SOC126URBAN . Nielsen E S 11 Months Ago

Professor Nielsen is a great professor. Online exams, he is easygoing, kind, and caring. Lectures were interesting, graded by some papers, criteria for the papers is always clear and if you follow them well you should do very well. Always willing to help and answer questions. Take classes with him if you can

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SOC149 . Nielsen E S 11 Months Ago

Was a really good professor, although they do kinda send the guidelines for the essay very last minute but was an interesting course!

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SOC149 . Nielsen E S 11 Months Ago

one book to read, weekly personality tests, 2 papers, a midterm, final paper, and final exam. didn't upload the instructions for papers until the week it was due so that was pretty stressful. iclicker attendance, but all of the exams are take-home/open note. overall good professor and really interesting class, but could be a little more organized.

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PSTAT131 . Yu G H 1 Year, 14 Days Ago

I would not recommend this professor unless you have no other choice. The lectures were disorganized, and it felt like they were just reading off the slides without offering any deeper explanations. When students asked questions, the responses were often vague or dismissive, which made it hard to clarify important concepts.

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ENVS3 . Nielsen E S 1 Year, 1 Month Ago

I thought Nielsen was great. The workload was a little heavy, a quiz and essay due every other week, but the class was pretty easy overall. Lecture was easy to follow even if a bit boring at times, and I liked Nielsen as a person. Good class.

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PSTAT232 . Yu G H 1 Year, 1 Month Ago

Yu leaves much to be desired in their teaching approach. Classes often felt disorganized, with a lack of clear objectives or structured material. Key concepts were often rushed through or skipped entirely, making it challenging to understand the course content fully.

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PSTAT232 . Yu G H 1 Year, 6 Months Ago

Best lecturer in pstat department.

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SOC131 . Nielsen E S 1 Year, 8 Months Ago

I really enjoyed this class and felt like it improved my understanding of global politics. The surveys were fun to take each week, there were only 2 online exams and 2 reflection papers which was great. The workload was easy and the only downside was the attendance and weekly discussion posts.

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PSTAT232 . Yu G H 1 Year, 8 Months Ago

I took this class as an undergrad. I found this class pretty interesting. The grading is 45% hw, 45% project, 10% lecture scribe. You're expected to use LaTeX in RMarkdown for homework and LaTeX for scribing (only one lecture per person.) The homework assignments are pretty challenging but you have plenty of time to do them cus they're only 3 of em

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PSTAT232 . Yu G H 1 Year, 8 Months Ago

Class is easy for a graduate course, a lot of content overlaps with the stuff for PSTAT 131 students, except for the final that has a proofs section a little bit harder but still doable for a grad student. The final project's instructions were vague but my final project was dogsh*t and got an A- so he's chill. If u want easy A, take coburn instead

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PSTAT131 . Yu G H 1 Year, 11 Months Ago

Avoid this guy if you can! He gave a super difficult final exam, with a lot of confusing multiple choice/true or false questions. He was difficult to reach outside of the class. His office hour didn't have anyone, including himself.

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PSTAT131 . Yu G H 2 Years Ago

Very difficult to get a hold of outside of one or two days a week. Always rushing out and prefer to hide behind emails or zoom for communications. Unwilling to set up office hour outside of days he lectures. Don't feel like he cares about student's education, but cares more about his own time and schedule.

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